Last day of June-

Here is one other from Pots 'n Paints- based on a pastel drawing of a model- I called it "Morning Coffee". We had a great turn-out during the show and would like to do something similar again. The "resident groups" miss having our shows in the Art Gallery. I am on a clean-up and sort-through of drawings and other art work. You can't keep everything- but it is time-consuming .... Some flower paintings have gone to Rocanini Coffee shop -more details later...

Opening Night a Success!

Last night was Opening Night and reception for Pots 'n Paints and we had a great turnout. The show looks very "gallery" in the Performance Hall - especially with the lights adjusted to set everything off well. Jennifer Heine did a great job of organizing the paintings by warms and cools and everything came together well.  Pots in the paintings and the beautiful pottery on the plinths complimented eaach other and added up to an impressive show.

This "Pots and Shards" - which I have shown in progress in past blogs- is one of mine that is in the show. More pots than any other painting! ...well it was an interesting challenge.

No more news-

Well, here's towers at Cesky Krumlov - the church tower with its weathered copper roof in the foreground and the clock tower of the castle behind- but no more word - even after a Google search -on the floods in the Czech Republic. It seems they have peaked and abated in Prague - but no more word on Cesky Krumlov even 'though it is a World Heritage Site. Funny, a person realizes how limiting our news sources actually are. You can certainly understand why people have subscriptions to hometown newspapers ... although one wonders how long that will go on, given the cost of mail. Maybe it will be possible to have all the newspapers on the internet after awhile. I hope this medieval town did not suffer much damage. It is quite a magical place.

Concern about Prague

Reading about flooding in Central Europe brings concerns about Prague.  When we were in the Czech Republic a few years ago, high-water marks and destruction from the previous major flood - 2001, I think, were still evident. It is so sad to think of the historical areas being threatened again. The Charles Bridge has been closed but the latest news seems to be that the waters have crested in Prague but not downstream. The Vitava flows through Cesky Krumlov too so I'm worried about that town we so enjoyed. This painting is of the rooftops of old Prague as seen from the clock tower. I hope the sun shines and the waters subside!

The Forty-minute factor

This past weekend, I had the excellent opportunity of taking a workshop with David Goatley, the well-known portrait painter.  I will be giving some more of the bits of wisdom that I noted down in later blogs too. One statement that I especially noted was that David says you should only work forty minutes at a time before you take a break. The reasoning is that you stop really seeing at that point and are just "polishing your mistakes". I found this quite liberating because it is often possible to grab a forty-minute time slot  for painting rather than waiting to see if a whole longer period might be feasible. This pastel of Shelley was actually done in 30-minute sessions at Adrienne's. One 30-minute period before coffee break, then two sessions with a break for the model in between. I liked the colour that happened in this one!